Hossein Salami
Hossein SalamiReuters

Iran will pursue any aggressor, even it carries out a limited attack, and seek to destroy it, the head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

“Be careful, a limited aggression will not remain limited. We are after punishment and we will continue until the full destruction of any aggressor,” the head of the Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, was quoted as having said in remarks broadcast on state TV.

The comments follow the attacks on Saudi oil sites last week which Riyadh and US officials blamed on Tehran.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said that it’s “looking like” Iran was responsible for the weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil supply.

US Defense Secretary Mike Esper later said that the US military is preparing a response to the attack.

Saudi Arabia said that the drone strikes on its key oil facilities disrupted about half of the kingdom's oil capacity, or 5% of the daily global oil supply.

Yemen's Houthi rebels took responsibility for the attacks, saying 10 drones targeted state-owned Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais.

It has long been believed that Iran is planning to use the Houthis to take over Yemen and seize the key strategic port of Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea and ultimately to the Israeli resort city of Eilat.

Iran has long denied that it is backing the Houthis and has also denied Saudi Arabian accusations that Tehran provided the Houthi rebels in Yemen with ballistic capabilities.